Mercury boiler headers with casings



June 4,- 1935. H. J. KERR idERGURY BOILER HEADERS WITH CASINGS Original Filed April .1', 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 A INVENTQR ATTORNEYS Jung 4, 1935. H. J. KERR 2,003,786

MERCURY BOILER HEADERS WITH CASINGS Original Filed April 1, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 wgv w BY ATTORNEYS Patented June 4, 1935 UNITED STATES MERCURY BOILER HEADERS WITH CASINGS Howard J. Kerr, Westfield, N. J., assignor to The Babcock & Wilcox Company, Bayonne, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application April 1, 1929, Serial No. 351,474

Renewed May 25, 1933 7 Claims.

This invention relates to a mercury boiler that is provided with a plurality of headers arranged side by side and protected by means of casings from direct contact by hot gases.

The invention will be understood from the description in connection with the accompan ing drawings in which Fig. 1 is a vertical section through a furnace or hot gas flue partly broken away'taken along the line I-l of Fig. 2; Fig. 2 is a section taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a transverse section through one of the headers on an enlarged scale.

In the drawings, reference character I indicates the wall of a furnace or flue through which hot gases or products of combustion pass upwardly. A row of horizontally disposed mercury boiler headers 2, preferably approximately square in cross section, is arranged across the flue so that the hot gases passing upwardly pass through the spaces between the headers. The headers are provided with depending closed ended tubes 3 which diverge somewhat from each other and extend downwardly in the flue. Vapor outlet tubes 4 are provided along the upper sides of the headers 2.

A casing 5 (Fig. 3), which may be made of soft calorized steel or other material not injured by the hot gases, surrounds each header 2. The upper sides 6 of the casing are made removable with flanges along their edges through which bolts I. pass to keep the same in place. Spacing lugs 8 are provided along the inside walls of the casing 5 to keep the casings spaced slightly from the headers 2.

A layer of heat insulating material II is preferably provided in the lower portion of each casing 5 below the header 2 to protect the header from the intense heat. On the sides and top of the headers a layer of insulating gases between the header and casing acts as insulation.

The ends of the headers 2 are enlarged, as indicated in Fig. 2, and the casings 5 terminate somewhat short of the ends of the headers. Spacers 12 are located at intervals between the casings to provide spaces through which the gases passing upwardly flow and insure a proper gas flow area. Zigzag baifies 13 are suspended from the lower ends of the spacers i2 and extend downwardly between groups of tubes 3 to cause the gases to pass around and between the tubes 3 as they pass in an upward direction, and to prevent short circuiting of gases between groups of tubes. The spacing of the headers makes such baflies especially important.

In boiling mercury, especially at high pressures, the vapor temperatures are so high that it is undesirable to have the hot gases impart heat to the thick walls of the headers, and by this invention these headers are amply protected against such injury while still permitting the most desirable gas flow upward around the tubes to their tops, between the headers to a gas outlet above.

I claim:

1. In a boiler for high boiling point fluids, a plurality of headers arranged side by side and having tubes depending therefrom, casings around each header, spacers between the casings, and zigzag baffles suspended from said spacers between groups of said tubes.

2. In a boiler for high boiling point fluids, a plurality of headers arranged side by side in a gas flue, tubes connected with said headers casings around each header, and spacers between the casings to provide passages for the gas.

3. In a boiler for high boiling point fluids, a plurality of spaced headers, tubes depending from said headers, means to cause hot gases to flow upwardly around the tubes, heat insulating material along the bottom sides of the headers and casings surrounding said headers and spaced therefrom to provide gaseous insulating layers along the sides of the headers.

4. The combination in a boiler for high boiling point fluids of a passage through which heating gases flow upwardly, a plurality of mercury headers extending across said passage, spacers between said headers to provide equal spaces for the flow of gases past said headers, a set of dead end tubes extending downwardly below each header and bafiles positioned between each set of tubes.

5. The combination in a boiler for high boiling point fluids of a passage through which heating gases flow upwardly, a plurality of mercury headers extending across said passage, spacers between said headers to provide equal spaces for the flow of gas past said headers, tubes extending downwardly below said headers, said tubes being spaced unequal distances apart and baflles supported from said spacers and positioned in the spaces between said tubes to cause the gases to contact with said tubes substantially throughout the length thereof.

6. In a boiler for high boiling point fluids, a plurality of headers arranged side by side in a gas flue, tubes connected with said headers, and a casing around each header, said casings being spaced from each other to provide passages for the gases.

7. In a boiler for high boiling point fluids, a plurality of spaced headers, tubes dependent from said headers, means causing hot gases to flow upwardly around said tubes and heat insulating means around said headers, the outer surfaces of the heat insulating means of adjacent headers being spaced to provide for the flow of gases therebetween.

HOWARD J. KERR. 

